18th July…

pippa666 ♦ July 18, 2023

Robert johnson has done it again!!! A hat-trick of wins after hitting the top spot in the enclosure at York on Saturday. That’s 2 wins in the past fortnight and a season total of 5 for him and very proud (and rightly so) owner/rider Victor. He has had a great season and doesn’t look like he has plans for stopping anytime soon as he won going away at the line under Connor Beasley. Huge congrats to Victor and all involved with this lovely 5yr old by Helmet, he is fast becoming a yard stalwart. Pic below was him enjoying some turnout time after his win – didnt even know he had been racing, ready to go again!!!

Following on from that we had Misemerald doing it for the girls at Ayr yesterday. Winning by a head under Andrew Mullen to make it 2 wins from 3 runs, with her only being a length off the winner for 3rd on her first start. She is proving a tough filly who looks to love her racing and we have our fingers crossed she has plenty more to come, an exciting addition to the yard this summer. Huge congrats to her owner Joyce Porter and all connections! Here’s her race…

Phil’s interview after the win at Ayr…

Its great to get the flat winners, but as a dual licence yard its always exciting to get the winter jumpers back in. Here are a few of the team recently back in to get fit for their season ahead…

Lady’s Present

Magical Arthur

Un-named ‘Mary’

Jason The Militant

Spanish Buttons

Defining Battle

Un-named ‘Milo’

CLUB OPEN DAY

For those of you who are attending the PKR Club Open Day this Saturday, these are all the details put together by Pippa you may need if you are yet to look at your email or are not on the club Facebook page for whatever reason….

We look forward to welcoming many of you to the yard next Saturday, the 22nd of July. Let’s hope this wind & rain clears up by then! We will not be doing any demonstrations or having the club horses out until 10 am when proceedings will start ( please don’t be late if you don’t want to miss Green Oaks Top Cat ( Molly) at exercise). You are very welcome to arrive from 8:30 am, park up and enjoy getting to know the horses on the yard and meet our friendly team . Our team will be busy exercising & mucking out , please bear with them We will be parking the majority of cars in the first field which is on the left as you come through the double wooden gates just off the roadside, there will be a sign up. Please follow the signs. If you are a blue badge holder or find it difficult to walk up the field and into the yard, we will do our best to park you on hardstanding next to the yard or just through the double wooden gates if you can see space by the wall. If you arrive a bit later and this area looks full but you need hard standing please continue up the lane behind the barns, and we will find you a spot in the car park next to our house. Please note do NOT drive past our cream farmhouse to the next door farm as he does not like any cars turning round in his farmyard, and also we need to leave the road completely free of parked cars as it has tractor access. I’m sure it will become clear when you arrive if you haven’t been before & there should be plenty of us about to ask.FINDING US It is wise to follow a phone satnav rather than an older car satnav as they do not always recognise the new roads round us. Although our address is Richmond, we are at a small hamlet called East Appleton which lies between Catterick village and Hackforth Village. Most of you will find us by coming off the A1 either at Leeming Bar ( and coming ten minutes up the side road) or the next junction at Colburn and coming back down the side road for a minute and making your way across the A1 motorway bridge. You will then turn left as you cross the bridge and we are approximately 1 mile along that road on a double bend. You will pass a small wood first and our Bushypark yard set back down a drive to the left , keep going…. You cannot miss the 4 big barns standing on the sharp corner with the yellow Phillip Kirby Racing sign above the seven stables facing you. It is through these double wooden gates that most of you will come. When you arrive you will be given brochure with a map of the yard and fields, the order of events, horses you will see, details about our future Winter 10 to follow competition, and lots more info. Our daughter Indy is earning wages this week, she is busy typing information about each horse which will be found on their stable doors as well as their name card with colours to give you some interesting facts about them all.

PROCEEDINGS – Our plan is that you will see the horses , including Molly, go out to exercise on the gallops , ( not before 10 am) and then we will have some demonstrations plus the club horses will be led out in their bridles for photographs with a few other special yard favourites that we know many of you follow – Top Ville Ben, Red Force One, Lone Star, Bushypark …We will have the Equicizer horse out for some of you to have a practice being a jockey on, and we will also get a demo about the new cushion whip rules from Joe or Tommy .Katie will again be giving a quarter mark demo but we will also have a dedicated stable & quiet horse where you can try plaiting up and get some good tips if necessary.We will be taking an ‘all access’ tour to our Racing Tackroom to see Katie’s jockey silks stairs and how the racing bags are organised.To complete proceedings , we will have our usual group field and farm tour to see all the Mares, foals youngstock and those out of training in the fields. Have your phones and Cameras ready! If you don’t want to walk so far , you are welcome to walk down the gallops a short way to the top fields, where the mares and foals are, please note the white electric strand across the top of the fences will be on, don’t get a shock! if walking is not for you, you are welcome to spend as long as you want going round the barns & stables seeing the horses – we are very happy for you to stroke them & take photos – please leave mints and apples/ carrots / licks by the stables which we will make sure they get at teatime in their feeds. if everybody gives them titbits, they may start to bite.Please be aware that horses are unpredictable creatures, most of them are very friendly but the odd one may not be, ears back and scowling is a sure sign. Very few bite but always be aware that they could. They like you to approach them with your hand down or gently to their nose rather than up at their face and most prefer to be stroked gently on the neck. Some will be literally dying to get your attention pulling all sorts of funny faces ( Spanish Buttons & Noonie being 2 such horses! ) while others may be more aloof or shy. Most love having visitors talking to them REFRESHMENTS I apologise that we won’t have complimentary tea and coffee this time as we are always just so busy sorting everything out but from when you arrive there will be a speciality coffee, tea and hot chocolate van with pastries and cakes to purchase, and Indy is also having her own stall with home-made sandwiches at £1.50 cash per pack. There will be CHEESE / ham & egg mayonnaise in white or brown bread. ( the cheese option missed out on the email) If it looks like being warm we will also have ice creams to buy & keep you cool At our next Club Morning in September we will have hot food available, and this has already been booked, a really fantastic homemade food stand that we enjoyed at one of the shows we attended recently. They also had some amazing cakes to buy.We will be having a charity bucket in aid of our favourite charity, Prince Fluffy Kareem, which serves the pyramid horses of Egypt, a small charity doing fabulous work for some of the worlds poorest equines. Even a couple of pounds will be a fantastic help and we love to send them your kind donations. This can be put in a bucket next to Indy’s sandwich stand.As you walk around the yard, I’m sure you will notice the wonderful flowers and colourful tubs & hanging baskets that are blooming, this is thanks to our club members Chris and Christine Duke who have done a fantastic job, just as they did last year. We are very appreciative of all the work they have done.Megan Dent photography will have a trade stand with some beautiful mounted & frames photographs and canvasses to purchase – of the Club horses & general photos from our yard & field horses.The green gillets that we hoped to have ready to buy will not be ready until our second club morning, but we are aiming to have green or lilac polo shirts ready to purchase with our club logos in several different sizes. If you want to stock up on bobble hats & scarves ( hats £15, scarves £13, badges £3.50) as presents for Christmas we have those too, as well as Welcome packs ready to purchase for friends. We will be taking CASH on the day or payment for these items via our website with card details. We won’t have our card machine but Megan Dent Photography WILL be taking CARD payments. The drinks & pastries/ cakes van ALSO takes cards but Indy’s sandwiches & Ice creams will be CASH only.We will also have speciality label Top Cat, Billian & Molly beer direct from Pennine Brewery AVAILABLE to buy at £3 CASH ONLY per bottle.Some of you will be collecting Billian trophies If you have pre-ordered and paid for them – if you haven’t ordered but would like to buy one, please ask me on the day and I will be taking orders. We have not taken orders yet for his second winning trophy, but this is imminent and will be done via email request.I’m sure I’m going to think of many more things to email as the week goes on, but for now I will send this to make a start!Finally don’t panic, as I know that some of you will be worried you won’t see Billian and Martalindy as they are out in the fields currently on their break , but they will be coming in to stables for the club day for plenty of attention With best wishes Pippa, Phil & all the team

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Another win!